More Women Are Bringing Home The Bacon

(Memphis) A new study says that more and more women are becoming the breadwinners for their families.

Nicole Gates is a single mom who works as a Public Affairs Specialist in Shelby County Government.

It’s a job like this that allows her to provide for her four daughters after 16-years of marriage.

“When it’s just you, you go beyond to make that happen,” said Gates.

She is a part of a growing number of women who are either the sole or primary provider for their family.

A new Pew Research Study says women are the top earners in 40 percent of homes across the nation.

“I’m not surprised,” said Gates. “It seems that women can get into different fields a little bit easier. I’m not sure why. I like to say it’s because we’re more flexible,” she said as she laughed, “a little more versatile maybe.”

Since the 60’s the study claims breadwinning moms have nearly quadrupled.

Sixty-three percent of them are like Gates, the only provider for the family, while 37 percent make more money than their husbands.

Deborah Clubb with Memphis Area Women’s Council says the culture is changing for many reasons, from highly educated women entering the workforce to more women having children out-of-wedlock.

Plus she says the recession of 2009 hit typically male industries like construction and manufacturing hard, “Sadly, in a way I guess, the lower paid, but highly female sectors carried through that a little bit.”

It’s a breadwinner trend that Clubb does not see reversing anytime soon.